day 5: steamboat springs to denver!

i apologize in advance for the brevity of this post... we have had quite the exciting day and are ready for our heads to hit the pillows... and i am sure you would rather like to see more photos instead anyways, right? 

day 5 started with a hot air balloon outside of our window! we discovered that they are having a hot air balloon festival in steamboat springs this weekend and we were lucky enough to have a sneak peak.

after a friday trip to starbucks (oh yes, i savored every single moment of my SVL), we took the short trek to fish creek falls and hiked around for a bit. it was a beautiful waterfall! additionally, livi certainly enjoyed her accidental off-lease experience in the falls... weee! she snuck right out of paul's hands and raced back and forth along the trail as fast as those little legs could carry her. luckily, a good samaritan captured her and a kind senior citizen even commented on how it was the most exciting part of her day... what can i say? the mobleys come ready to entertain.

after a bike ride along the town's river, we decided to have a lunch break at the sweetwater tavern. turns out, steamboat springs has some pretty rockin' restaurants!... and this one specialized in gluten-free entrees! they even had gluten-free fish 'n chips.... AND... CHICKEN TENDERS!! people... gluten-free chicken tenders?! instant love!... but, alas... paul and i chose to get and split a couple of their specialty sandwiches... which were still delish... but i am still drooling over the possibility of those chicken tenders... sigh. while we ate, livi hung out by the wooden swing where our waiter served her ice-cold water at her leisure... for serious... it was awesome.

once our bellies were full, paul and livi took off towards the river for a quick dip. this is the 'before' shot...

livi's all good and ready to jump in (refer to earlier reference regarding free-for-all water romping livi style)!

paul said the water was cold, but i think i heard livi call him a 'sissy-pants'...

then paul got a bee in his bonnet to 'body surf down the rapids'... or should i say 'rapid.' he hopped over to where some of his fellow rapid riders were positioned to find them gawking at a water snake that had caught a fish... and then paul still decided to get back into the snake-infested water! i was horrified.

below is his face when i asked why he got back in the water after knowing about the snake's presence... while he admits to a irrational fear of snakes (much like yours truly), he said it would be passing up a once in a lifetime experience to not go down the rapid... i wish i shared his veracity and vigor.

there was a little sulfur draining situation happening on this rock... we quickly learned that it was no bueno to be downstream of this little ditty.

once upstream of the sulfur... livi and paul played freely in the water. livi found a rock to perch upon in order to stand guard of her pops... oh, the love of a dog... priceless.

and the 'after' shot...

after our river rendezvous, we left the adorable town of steamboat springs and headed to denver! we are now nice and settled in denver with sarah, charles, tasman, and edmund, and we are loving every minute of it! true to form, we brought the rain with us, and paul and i are currently falling asleep while listening to a lightning/thunderstorm... love it.

we have some additional photos from our arrival tonight, but they are all on paul's phone (i shall have to try and retrieve them tomorrow). but let's just say, tasman almost fell asleep in my arms while sarah and charles were preparing an amazing dinner for us and i almost died with glee! oh, that little fella sure knows how to melt his aunt's heart!

for the livi dog photo of the day, please choose from the many posted above... she was quite the star of the show today! :)

safe traveling and much love!
the mobleys

day 4: rain, rain, go away...

well folks, we have officially left our oh-too-comfortable california weather. when packing for this trip, i remember asking paul if i should bring along a rain jacket... he laughed. 'of course!' he had responded... 'we will be going to places that experience rain, megan... it's not like california, don't you remember?' i pled temporary insanity.

today was a day that required that rain jacket. it rained the... entire... day. we started our day 4 trek from salt lake city. we dropped off our at&t router and cable boxes/dvr's at the local ups store (yay, more space in the car!) and headed up to antelope island state park for a fun adventure on the great salt lake. when we finally got there, we found that the weather was still nasty... ultimate bummer! paul deemed it 'not worth it' to pay the fee, drive onto the island, or attempt a bike ride. instead, we snapped a couple of quick photos in the rain and continued on our way.

in all honesty... i love rain... i love thunderstorms... i just don't love driving in those storms for long periods of time (i did manage to see some pretty awesome lightning storms while driving this afternoon, though... haven't seen those in quite a few years!).

next stop: dinosaur national monument... about 4 hours down the road. the drive was very pretty, and we saw the landscape switch from desert to slightly more lush (and i use the term 'lush' very loosely). when we arrived, we discovered that it was less than a dog-friendly park (i have a feeling this is going to be a trend of our trip). as a result, after a thorough walk-through of the visitor center, i kept the pup company in the car. meanwhile, paul took the shuttle and explore the park for a bit. here are some of the photos that he snapped.

we crossed the border between utah and colorado (!!!).

and, later this evening, we arrived in steamboat springs. paul's sis (sarah) and her husband (charles) have been here a few times and told us about how much they loved it... after being here for just a few hours, i can definitely see why! it is such a quaint town with a walkable and interesting main street as well as top-notch restaurants. tonight, we ate at carl's tavern and it definitely did not disappoint!

we just arrived back to our hotel to find out beyond precious livi guarding the homestead. man, this dog has been quite the trooper on some long driving stretches... let's hope it continues for the next 2.5-ish weeks! for your livi dog photo of the day (slash your most favorite photo EVER), i leave you with this...

(in other words... jumping between 2 double beds is not just a blast when you're 10 years-old... or human.)

on tomorrow's plate: we will explore steamboat springs a little more before heading to denver! we tried to make reservations to float down the river here, but the water line is so low that all of the rafting places are closed right now :(. luckily, paul found an alpine slide and i found a bunch of cute shops to investigate instead :). maybe a few bike rides with our patient 4-legged child should be in order as well. tomorrow afternoon, we are heading to denver to see sarah, charles, and our 2 adorable nephews! we cannot wait to see them!!

safe traveling and much love!
the mobleys

day 3: happy 4th from salt lake city!

happy 4th of july from salt lake city, utah! we started out the day in kanab, utah... leaving our hotel at about 7:45am (we had planned to leave around 6:30am, but slept through our alarm... oh well! the sleep was much needed for another day of driving!).

we first traveled through zion national park. paul had planned a great, short hike for us and the liv-meister in the middle of the park, so we were excited to get the day started! however, before we could even get to the trailhead, a ranger informed us that dogs were not allowed on the park's trails... uber bummer! we drove the rest of the way through the park and admired all of its beauty. paul has participated in 2 ncsu caldwell wilderness trips in zion, so he was happy to return... even if for a brief period of time.

the first photo below was quickly taken while passing through an amazingly-designed tunnel which had several small openings where you could briefly see the rockin' view... pun intended.

we then drove... and drove... and drove. although, i am happy to say that we did not drive as much as we did the 2 days before (only about 6 hours today). the driving really hasn't been that bad... paul and i take turns behind the wheel, and we have some excellent audiobooks that have kept us awake and entertained (we finished the first book of the hunger games today... and paul is hooked, just like i thought he would be!).

just past provo, utah, we stopped off for a late lunch at in-n-out (unfortunately, this fabulous fast food deliciousness is not available in north carolina... so we definitely enjoyed this 'last meal' of burgers... animal style with whole grilled onions, of course!).

when we pulled off the exit for in-n-out, we saw one of the fires up in the mountains... very scary! luckily, we haven't seen any others since then.

we finally arrived to salt lake city, utah in the mid-afternoon. with livi all set-up and happy in our air-conditioned hotel room, paul and i hopped on the bikes and decided to check out the city. we headed towards the famous temple and surrounding temple square. everything about it was super interesting; however, we were somewhat disappointed to learn that we wouldn't be able to get very close to the temple (it is blocked off by a rather tall wall at its entire perimeter)... but it was spectacular, nonetheless.

in case you were wondering... no, we have not adjusted to the increase in temperatures yet. we have been way too spoiled the past 5-6 years by almost-perfect weather year-round. we have been sweaty messes at the end of each day. that being said, after biking around SLC for a bit, we headed to a local brewery/pub and enjoyed a bit of the local flavor to cool down.

because we couldn't get a close-up look of the temple, paul was convinced that it as not really 'the' temple that we were looking for... he had to research the information on his iphone just to be sure... and then he found out that it was, in fact, 'the' temple... i think he is still bewildered.

after drinks we went back to the hotel for a much needed nap and snuggle with the livs. after closing our eyes for less that 30 minutes, we were up and out the door... to dinner we went! my dad recommended the red iguana... and it definitely did not disappoint. we are still stuffed from the delicious meal!

(my apologies for not taking a before picture of the meal... but we ate it way too quickly!)

after dinner, we decided to drive around the city some more. here are some of the photos that we snapped...

the capitol building overlooking the city...

the temple...

and for your daily livi dog photo... our guard dog... keeping an eye out for the fireworks!

if all goes according to plan, we are off to the great salt lake, dinosaur national monument, and eventually steamboat springs tomorrow! hope all of y'all had a very happy 4th!!

safe traveling and much love!
the mobleys

day 2: 'grand' adventure

hello from utah!... if i had written this 2 hours ago, i would have said 'hello from arizona!'... and if i had written this 12 hours ago, i would have said 'hello from nevada!'

that's right... 3 states, 1 day. boo-yah.

but there was a small price to pay for this marvelous journey... and that would be a great deal of time spent in the good old subaru. we left las vegas around 8am and headed east. i must admit, i was a bit of a pill this morning... i offer my continued apologies to my husband. maybe it was the lack of coffee or maybe it was the sudden realization that we had planned more to do in one day than there were hours. whatever the reason, once the luna bars appeared, things started looking up.

after leaving vegas, we headed over to the hoover dam, which was pretty darn cool. since pups weren't allowed on the trail, paul ran ahead and took a few photos of the sights. then we drove across the dam twice (the road at the other end of the dam was closed, so we had to re-trace our treads) before driving over the new bridge over the dam!

up next was a sizable amount of driving... approximately 5.5 hours with one stop at the golden arches. speaking of that ever-so-important lunch break, we found ourselves in a super cute town named williams, az. the 2 main streets had a lot of mannequins leaning out of windows or sitting on porch benches. see what i mean?...

and williams even had the original grand canyon train... or at least it said it was. it was fun to stumble upon something like this!

we finally made it to the grand canyon (which i had never been to)! you would never believe... this typically hot, hot, hot spot was less than 80 degrees (honest to goodness, i saw it get down to 65 degrees) and RAINING! even better was the thunderstorm (along with the rain) that occurred on our brief bike ride and walk around the rim at the visitors center (in case you were wondering, we went to the south rim). we have both missed listening to thunder since it is a rarity in san francisco, so it was a treat in a way!

as mentioned, we took little livi on a bike ride that was supposed to lead us to a great look-out of the grand canyon. unfortunately, the lack of signs led us to be lost, so we ended up going back to the visitors center and seeing the canyon from the 'touristy spots.' BUT, we did see a great deal of wildlife on the bike ride... not too shabby!

with the 20% chance of storms being 100% reality, it was difficult to see all of the canyon's wonderfulness, but i thought it was still fabulously surreal!

we had planned to make it through zion national park by the end of today, but due to the unexpected/unanticipated travel times, we decided to get a hotel outside of zion and start with that first thing tomorrow morning. traveling from the grand canyon to our current location (kanab, utah), we saw a lot of vast beauty...

we scored a hotel room and went scavenging for dinner around 9:30pm. the hotel clerk recommended the restaurant next door... the rocking v... and it was AMAZING! paul had the clam chowder, i had the tomato-basil soup, and we both shared the salmon... definitely a delightfully unexpected treasure in this small town, and we would highly recommend it to anyone headed towards zion!

and for your livi dog photo of the day, we leave you with this...

just loving life in the honeycomb hide-out of the subaru!

tomorrow, the plan is to drive through zion and head to salt lake city for some 4th of july celebrations! (also on paul's agenda: finish the first hunger games book... audiobook style!)

safe traveling and much love!
the mobleys

day 1: vegas, baby!

[this post will be brief.. we do not have wireless internet our current hotel... my apologies!]

let the journey begin! it has been a bittersweet start to a new adventure in our lives... we have made a home and 'family of friends' in california, but we are also heading towards our family and friends in north carolina. we have been quite busy the past week with getting our things and apartment in order as well as trying to get to see everyone and everything in the bay area that we so very much love and will miss (more on that later when i have access to wireless and my camera). thank you to all of our west coast loves for an unforgettable send-off and for all of your friendship and support throughout the past 5-6 years and beyond!

today, we left our apartment in palo alto and headed east... er... southeast-ish to start our journey across the country... first stop... VEGAS, BABY!

thats's right... we drove 9 and a half-ish hours (with 3 brief stops) to las vegas! i (megan) have never been, paul has been when he has chaperoned the caldwell wilderness trip x 2... but let's face it, livi wanted to see the bellagio water show... so we headed to sin city with our wolfpack of 3 (didn't you hear?, livi is joining us on this ride! and don't worry... the wolfpack reference is from 'the hangover' and in no way demonstrates a devastating change of allegiance of this tarheel gal.).

paul drove the first 1.5 hours and then i wanted to show my stuff as the driver for the rest of the journey... woot woot! (in all reality, paul is an excellent navigator and i get car sick easily... this means i drive).

with all that said... we have arrived! livi seems to be loving her first hotel stay and paul and i are about to check out the strip! below are random photos from the day (my blogger app does not let me sort them appropriately for some reason... or add captions, which i believe are much needed... type A personality nightmare...)

can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!

safe travels from nevada!
the mobleys

ready, set,...

... move!

if you're been wondering where we've been (or not wondering since you know my history of blog posting frequency... ha!)... well...

- paul successfully defended his thesis on 5.24!

- on the same day, he was offered a position at his dream job (RTI) in raleigh! he accepted the offer, and we are north carolina bound!

- i have since resigned from my position at lucile packard (please insert sobbing here... what an amazing job that was... and seriously amazing people that i worked with!), and have been busy applying for my physical therapy license in nc.

- we had our very first yard sale... and did fairly well (despite an emergency vet visit for the larger 4-legged one in the middle of the sale... i shall spare you the details... ask with caution)!

- paul graduated with his PhD in mechanical engineering from stanford (sorry, i have to brag... i'm so very proud!) on 6.17!

- paul's entire family was so wonderful to travel out to palo alto for paul's graduation and subsequent celebrations... after graduation, we traveled to lake tahoe for a week-long family vacay... it was fabulous! we returned home yesterday, and had a surprise/much-welcomed visit from our college friend, brian.

- and now... we continue to pack, post available sales on craigslist, and try to soak up our last few days in california!

it is certainly bittersweet to be leaving this west coast life... much harder than i would have imagined (especially if you had asked me 5 years ago). with the move happening relatively quickly, it just seems that we don't have enough time to do everything that we want to do before heading east. i'm trying to take it all in!

we move out of our apartment 1 week from today (!!!). we will be driving across the country (mostly along the northern route) over 3 weeks time to end up in north carolina at the end of july. if you are along the way, please let us know! we would love to visit!

along our journey, i will be posting about our exciting ventures... with the dog in tow!... stay tuned... it could get crazy...

until then, i leave you with one of the few photos that is on our camera from paul's graduation day. congratulations, love! i am so proud of you and all that you have accomplished!

four years in the making...

my husband [finally] has a stocking!

a while ago, i decided that i wanted to start a tradition for our family... i would make/needlepoint all of the christmas stockings! we, thankfully, have stockings with each of our families that we enjoy each year, but i wanted to do something special for when we have a home and a family of our own one day.

good idea in theory... turns out i'm not so great with time efficiency (surprised?). i started this bad boy about a year after we got married (we don't currently have a fireplace or mantle... so was there really that much of a rush?), and it's been a slow process to complete. (if you know my wonderwoman of a mother, you know that she can perfectly finish a stocking like this one in approximately a month... if not less... to say that she is skilled is an understatement... i have a lot of catching up to do.)

today... i finished the stocking!

my mom's friend is going to complete it with backing/finishing work, and i'm so pumped to see the final result! now, onto the start of my stocking... wish me luck!

hopefully i'm on a roll and this next one won't take me quite so long...